1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements to a system for photographically recording information, and more particularly to improvements in a system for automatically recording camera settings on film.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART:
As is known from my previous application, reference above, a unique system for recording camera settings, such as shutter speeds and aperture settings, has now been developed. This system employs electrical switching devices designed to be coupled to the setting adjustment mechanism of a camera for encoding the outputs of a pair of optical display assemblies. Each of the display assemblies includes a plurality of electroluminescent devices for recording optical images on the edge portions of photographic film contained in the camera.
The purpose of the unique system described in my previous patent is to automatically record camera settings on photographic negatives at the instant at which the negatives are exposed. This arrangement is extremely useful to professional and sophisticated amateur photographers since it eliminates the cumbersome and often unreliable techniques previously used for recording camera settings. The recording system is made practical by the use of miniaturized light sources, such as light emitting diodes which may be mounted in a camera back or in a film backing plate within a camera. However, the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) has presented a problem in that diodes of this type are essentially point light sources so that resulting photographic exposures tend to have significant variations in contrast. Accordingly a need exists for a technique of counteracting the "point source" nature of LEDs in the environment of a photographic recording apparatus of the type described. Naturally, any device which would provide the desired effect must also meet the miniaturization and mounting requirements imposed by the fact that the system is intended to be mounted within a camera.
A further problem in implementing the recording system described above resides in the electrical switches designed to be coupled to the camera aperture and exposure time setting mechanisms. It is desirable that a relatively universal switching assembly be constructed so that the system in question can be installed on a wide range of camera types both during and after assembly of the cameras. A need therefore exists for an improved switch structure of wide ranging applicability which can be easily installed on many different types of cameras.